HP L260 Just took a dump on us today

[eahicks]

Printing on super smooth banner material, printed 2 banners out of 4 and they were perfect, solid burgundy. Then this started, and can not figure out the problem Even changed printheads and can not get another decent print. Any ideas? Heads are good, inks good, test prints come out 100%, no dropouts, etc.

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

That looks like a plasticizer issues not a L260 issue. You can try wiping the material down with alcohol or switch to a new roll.

 

[dypinc]

Printing on super smooth banner material, printed 2 banners out of 4 and they were perfect, solid burgundy. Then this started, and can not figure out the problem Even changed printheads and can not get another decent print. Any ideas? Heads are good, inks good, test prints come out 100%, no dropouts, etc.

Have you ruled out RIP or transmission error? Rebooted RIP?

 

[eahicks]

That looks like a plasticizer issues not a L260 issue. You can try wiping the material down with alcohol or switch to a new roll.

After all my cleaning attempts and other troubleshooting, I ran the same file on regular vinyl. Same problem. One tech guy said it may the ink system has an issue...which means big repair.

 

[eahicks]

Have you ruled out RIP or transmission error? Rebooted RIP?

Thought of that, but didn't try. Re ripped a new file though....it started ok then took a dump.

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

If its neither of those, it may be the ink lines are getting air. On our old L25 we had to replace the line set.

 

[BIG EASY DOES IT]

They pump air to pressurize the ink cartridges. If the bag got messed up inside the cartridge it could be sucking up air instead. So you would get almost no ink through whatever line it is. It looks like your running out of magenta to me.

 

[eahicks]

They pump air to pressurize the ink cartridges. If the bag got messed up inside the cartridge it could be sucking up air instead. So you would get almost no ink through whatever line it is. It looks like your running out of magenta to me.

That's what I think too. Yes, magenta is not running right.

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

have you tried new ink cartridge to rule out a damage ink bag?

 

[P Wagner]

That's what I think too. Yes, magenta is not running right.

It is either air in the lines (causing a dry fire), or heads that are failing. As you said that the heads have been replaced (all of them / which ones?), that would leave us with air in the lines. Improper replacement of the ink carts is the easiest way to introduce air into the lines.

As had been mentioned, the lines are pressurized when the machine is not sleeping. Replacing a cartridge without first depressurizing the ink train will introduce air into the ink system and can cause a dry fire.

 

[eahicks]

Issue resolved. One of the replaced heads was bad. New one put in, plus one other that was past life expectancy. All good now....whew.....